What’s the rule regarding bus’s without seat belts ? Why I ask is my daughter travels 15 minutes on the school bus (not coach) to school but some of this is a short hop on the motorway.
Now until Xmas it was a double decker and all the kids got seated but now It’s a single decker and my daughter couldn’t get a seat so she had to stand for the 15 minute journey home yesterday.
So my question is… is this allowed on motorways because I personally don’t think It’s safe 
Standing passengers are perfectly legal even on school buses, and naturally no seatbelt is available to be worn if you are standing.
There is still no law stating that seat belts must be fitted on school buses, however many local authorities will insist on them in order to service the contract.
If seatbelts are fitted, then children 14 or over must wear them according to the law. Children under 14 are exempt from wearing them provided the bus has a MGW greater than 3.5t (and a few other criteria that I can’t recall at the moment).
It matters not whether the vehicle is on a motorway or other type of road.
Thank-you very much you’ve cleared that up for me.
As far as I am aware the rules are, if the service carrying children to school is for their dedicated use then seat belts are compulsory, if the service is advertised as being available to the public, ie a service registered with the traffic commissioners, then they are not.
Normal service buses do not require seat belts, that is why some opeerators advertise their services to bypass the cost of fitting seat belts.
waddy640:
As far as I am aware the rules are, if the service carrying children to school is for their dedicated use then seat belts are compulsory, if the service is advertised as being available to the public, ie a service registered with the traffic commissioners, then they are not.Normal service buses do not require seat belts, that is why some opeerators advertise their services to bypass the cost of fitting seat belts.
The buses have seen better days and if they’re used for anything else i’m unsure, they’re owned by the council I think and have that yellow square sign with children on. I might try and dig deeper and this is a genuine case of think of the children.
Try “seatbelts on uk school buses” it comes up with various LEA and other sites that define current laws.
Ask the bus company for the risk assessment in regard to standing passengers - especially children
This is legal on a public service bus I.E. carrying fare paying passengers as well as school kids. However it falls a long way short of best practice, so kick up a stink with the school and the council.As you are using this forum you could use the word VOSA…
Many things don’t comply, I was asked to drive a school bus a while back. I do not have a CRB and I immediately informed the LEA that their contractor was ignoring the rules.
I’m a london bus driver.
If standing passengers are allowed, then the bus does not need seatbelts.
Coaches have to have seatbelts because no standing passengers are allowed.
We get loads of compo claims from passengers if they fall over due to the driver braking harshly, even if it’s not the drivers fault.
I had an incident where I was driving along a main road and a car pulled out of a side turning without even looking, I jumped on the brakes and missed him by about an inch!
Loads of passengers went flying and I had do a report for my company and told the company that any claims should be fowarded to the car drivers insurance company.
The whole incident was captured on cctv.
bald bloke:
and have that yellow square sign with children on. I might try and dig deeper and this is a genuine case of think of the children.
This bus has been used for school/educational purposes in the past yet is not a dedicated school bus. The sign is on little sticky feet.
It does have seatbelts fitted as well 
(Mercedes Cimo 33 seater on an Atego chassis, 6sp manual box)
My missus drives school buses. She tells me you can fit as many seat belts as you like, getting the kids to use them is another matter. 
Interesting point rambo. Wifey’s only objection to driving service buses is that even the driver is not provided with a seat belt; like many drivers who’ve passed their test more recently (she’s 20 years younger than me) she’s not comfortable driving a vehicle where seat belts are not provided as she’s always worn them.
Rambo, I’ve had that sort of incident in the past and the response I had from the company I worked for at the time was not to have braked hard and risked the people falling over. My excuse of not injuring the person that ran out in front of me was met with if they wanted to run out in front of a bus then that is their fault if I hit them, but my responsibility were to the passengers.
The next complaint I had was that I wasn’t driving aggressively enough and keeping to the timetable and that I had to ‘trust other drivers’ not to be idiots.
Yeah right!
I suppose that I am lucky. My school bus driving is mainly along country lanes, I am more likely to go over a cattle grid than encounter a roundabout.
gnasty gnome:
My missus drives school buses. She tells me you can fit as many seat belts as you like, getting the kids to use them is another matter.Interesting point rambo. Wifey’s only objection to driving service buses is that even the driver is not provided with a seat belt; like many drivers who’ve passed their test more recently (she’s 20 years younger than me) she’s not comfortable driving a vehicle where seat belts are not provided as she’s always worn them.
My coach has 57 seat belts, but the driver doesn’t get one.
rambo19:
I’m a london bus driver.
If standing passengers are allowed, then the bus does not need seatbelts.
Coaches have to have seatbelts because no standing passengers are allowed.We get loads of compo claims from passengers if they fall over due to the driver braking harshly, even if it’s not the drivers fault.
I had an incident where I was driving along a main road and a car pulled out of a side turning without even looking, I jumped on the brakes and missed him by about an inch!
Loads of passengers went flying and I had do a report for my company and told the company that any claims should be fowarded to the car drivers insurance company.
The whole incident was captured on cctv.
I’m afraid my attitude is that if someone wants to cause an accident then they will be involved in it, even if it is just a small dent. They can then be blamed, rather than me taking avoiding action and being blamed whilst they drive off into the sunset. It’s called looking after number one, a harsh fact of life these days.
Gogan:
Standing passengers are perfectly legal even on school buses, and naturally no seatbelt is available to be worn if you are standing.There is still no law stating that seat belts must be fitted on school buses, however many local authorities will insist on them in order to service the contract.
If seatbelts are fitted, then children 14 or over must wear them according to the law. Children under 14 are exempt from wearing them provided the bus has a MGW greater than 3.5t (and a few other criteria that I can’t recall at the moment).
It matters not whether the vehicle is on a motorway or other type of road.
Well I’ve done some googling and this ^ seems spot on, I can only prey my daughters bus doesn’t get involved in an accident whilst on the motorway.
The difference between a coach and a service bus is that the bus would have poles along the length of it’s interior for standing passengers to hold on to whilst a coach wouldn’t.
bald bloke:
Gogan:
Standing passengers are perfectly legal even on school buses, and naturally no seatbelt is available to be worn if you are standing.There is still no law stating that seat belts must be fitted on school buses, however many local authorities will insist on them in order to service the contract.
If seatbelts are fitted, then children 14 or over must wear them according to the law. Children under 14 are exempt from wearing them provided the bus has a MGW greater than 3.5t (and a few other criteria that I can’t recall at the moment).It matters not whether the vehicle is on a motorway or other type of road.
Well I’ve done some googling and this ^ seems spot on, I can only prey my daughters bus doesn’t get involved in an accident whilst on the motorway.
Bald bloke
Not sure where you are but I’m fairly sure that around here (North east Bristol) a condition of the bus companies getting the school contracts is that they have seat belts fitted…
I agree with saratoga. when i did my psv way back in 1982 they drummed it into us trainees that is was safer[and cheaper] to hit the car than to injure any of our wonderful passengers. touch wood it hasnt happened to me.i did hear of a driver that threw the conductress up the bus and broke her arm and went on to have 6 accidents in 3 months!!! 